An Outlaw, an Intimidation, and a Trip to Hell.


“Jesus Christ, The Devil?” I sat down on the low coffee table, shakily lighting a cigarette and placing it in my mouth.


“Yep. Hosanna, please don’t light up another of those god-awful things. They stink.”


“have you ever tried one?” Untrust shook his head, doubtfully eying the smoke drifting around in the room. “Well, here.” I shook one out for him and handed it over, carefully igniting the tip with my pocket lighter.


“Just stick it in your mouth…” He gave me a defiant look that clearly said
Do I look like an idiot? How hard could it possibly be? I just shrugged.


Untrust inhaled deeply. His eyes were wide. He looked at me pathetically for a moment before exploding into a fit of raspy hacking coughs. After a few moments of him bent over, gasping for air while I just snorted with laughter, he recovered, glaring at me as he straightened up. In a dignified manner, he picked the still smoldering cigarette up off the ground and stuck it back in his mouth.


This time, when he took a long drag, he held it for a while, with his eyes closed, and a peaceful expression on his face, before the smoke gently wafted out of his nose. I have to say, I was impressed. I’ve been trying to do that, as well as blow smoke rings, for quite some time now, and he’d just gotten it instantly.


“Well, Hosanna, even though these are heavenly, I know deep inside that they are evil things. They’ll poison you for sure.” He tossed his half used cigarette on the carpet, before grabbing mine out of my mouth and stomping them both out, leaving an ugly ash stain on the floor. He then nodded, placing his hand on his hip and grinning. Before I could process what he’d said and done, he’d snatched the entire box from my jacket pocket.


“What?! You’re ridiculous! The frickin’ Son of the Devil won’t allow me to smoke?” I laughed and tried to grab them back, but Untrust was too quick. He stuck the box in his pocket and held out his hand expectantly. I knew that he wanted me to give him the stuff I bought off the boy, but I ain’t givin up that easy.


“What do you want from me? That stuff is gone! I threw it out!” I folded my arms across my chest, both as a defensive pose, and to protect my inner pocket, where I’d hidden the pot. He wasn’t having any of that. He just smiled knowingly, and held his hand up higher, flexing his four digits.


“Come on now, we both know you have it. Don’t make me take it by force.” I sighed and slowly took the baggie from my pocket. Dang it all, I was really looking forward to that. In the blink of an eye, he had snatched it away and hurried off to the other side of the room, where the old fireplace is. We don’t use the thing anymore because the chimney doesn’t work properly and we’ve never had the energy to have it fixed.


Untrust was bending over the fireplace, and as soon as he stepped back, I could see that he was kindling a small fire, burning up all of my supplies. I walked over and sat on the sofa near to where Untrust was feeding the small logs Mama kept (purely for decorative purposes) into the fire.


“Damn you, Untrust, Damn you to Hell.” He laughed and looked up at me.


“Too late”


“Well then.” I sighed and leaned back, watching the hypnotic flames dance. “That’s just about enough insanity for one evening, I think. I’m going to sleep.” He nodded, a quiet smile on his face.


“And Untrust? You had better be here when I wake up.”


I rolled around until my face was pressed into the crack between the seat cushions and the back of the sofa before Untrust could respond, and pretended to fall into a deep sleep.



. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


When I woke up, Untrust was gazing into the fire sadly. I sat up abruptly and hopped to my feet, accidentally kicking him a little. I stood for an uncomfortable moment, not sure what to do next.


“Are you leaving?” I said it suddenly and quickly. Making it all sound like one word.


He shook his head slowly. “No, not yet, at least. But I’ve got to face up to it sometime. I just don’t-”


“Great. So what shall we do now?” Whatever I said seemed too fast, too loud. I felt like I should be silent, even though it was completely against my nature. Everything was so messed up now, anyway, that I’d pretty much given up on sounding eloquent or sensical as well.


At this point, it really doesn’t matter whether I’m dreaming or not. I’m just glad to be with someone instead of alone.


“Hmm.” He stopped looking so scared and sad then, and looked up at me, pursing his lips. “Let’s cut your hair.” I nodded with determination.


“It’s about time.”


I ran into the kitchen, grabbing the big pair of sewing scissors we kept above the stove. My hair had never been significantly good or bad, just there. I’ve always kept it a little longer than my shoulders. Every once in awhile giving myself a trim if I needed to. The color had never changed, just a fluffy dark brown, parted to the side. I walked back into the living room slowly.


I plopped down on the rug next to Untrust. My legs were killing me. Tip: never sleep in jeans. Especially tight ones. It feels like the course fabric has become one with my flesh.


He turned to look at me.


“Come on then. You’ll feel better if you do.” I nodded, slowly raising the scissors. In one hand, I grabbed a lock of hair, pulled it taut, and clipped it off. Oh Dang. I underestimated the fluff. It sprang back up, about even with my eyebrow. Unstrust laughed. The room seemed to pulse with light.


“Give those to me! You’re going to screw it all up!” He snatched away the scissors and pulled me to my feet.


“Now you stand really still.” I waited. More and More fluffy tufts of hair were floating to the floor.


“So . . . The son of the devil, huh? How is it in ‘there’?”


“Well, It’s alright.” Hair continued to fall. “actually, no.” He chuckled dryly. “I hate it. Even though I’m his son, I’m not really worth anything out there.” He moved around to my left side. If I peeked out of the corner of my eye, I could just barely see the edge of his face. He was frowning. “I’m living on the streets, but there’s bad things there. Some have followed me here, I guess. The ‘radical Assassins’ is what they call themselves. They play with dark things, dark sources, until they can create something truly evil. Like what you saw. Except worse.” There was now a large pile of dark hair on the floor. “They been trying to get me for awhile and mostly I can fight them off, but they’re getting stronger. I know they’ve been trying to get my brother, Jack, too, and probably the rest of my siblings as well, but I’ve lost touch with most of them by now.” He moved in front of me, and began to snip me some new bangs. His face was clouded over, his eyebrows were furrowed, and he was staring intently at the clean steel scissors. “Jack is my only ally, really. I‘ll let you meet him sometime.” Untrust’s head shot up like he’d snapped out of a trance.


“I’m done.” He looked down at me and smiled excitedly. “Come on! Have a look!” I walked over to a silver mirror hanging on the wall.


“Hmmm. Not bad!” It was short. Very short, and fluffy, the longest strands barely brushing my lips.


“I think it looks good!” He had his hands on his hips and looked very pleased with himself. “Like an old page-boy almost!” I laughed.


“Let’s go!” I suddenly had a burning desire for travel.


“Where?” Untrust seemed unsure. He was slouching a little.


“Anywhere! Come on, we’ll take the bus!”


“A bus?” He smiled a little. “The buses there are always too expensive. Alright, Fine.” He looked a little more excited.


“Quick! What time is it?”


“Uh, 10:45?”


“Perfect! If we can sprint as fast as we possibly can, we might just be able to make the 10:50! Maybe.”


He laughed. “Well then, Come on!

And so we ran as fast as our feet could carry us . . .

. . . And just barely made it, but that’s mostly because we hurled rocks at the passing bus until it decided to stop and let us in.


As I gave the driver my fare, I gave her the sweetest smile I could possibly muster (I think we cracked the back window), but she just rolled her eyes. I shrugged and led Untrust to the farthest seat in the back. He was practically bouncing with excitement.

It wasn’t until I’d shoved him into the seat by the window, and slumped down beside him that I noticed the young man a few rows ahead of us. He was turned around in his seat and was staring intently at us. His hair was dark, and his skin had an olive tint. His eyes were unsettling. I couldn’t quite tell if they were black or brown, but they were very dark, dark, glinty, and calculating. Honestly, It was unnerving.

I slowly leaned towards Untrust and jabbed him in the arm gently. He paid no attention, he seemed fascinated by the landscape zooming by the window.

“Hey. Hey!” I hissed, jabbing just a little harder. He slowly turned, glancing at me dreamily.

“Untrust! Check out that freak-boy! What’s his deal, anyway?” I tilted my head in the weirdo’s direction. Untrust looked concerned.

“I dunno, but it can’t be anything goo-” Quick as a whip, the boy had leapt up, grabbed a frail-looking old man by the collar, and held a large knife to the man’s throat.
Untrust’s eyes were sparking again.

“Everybody listen! I will kill this geezer if any of you move a muscle! Everyone stay still!” A few people in the bus muttered loudly. A couple of individuals let out brief shrieks of terror, but they were quickly hushed. The bus swerved to the side of the small road.

Even after hearing the threats the young criminal was spewing, I slowly inched towards Untrust and whispered ever-so-quietly out of the corner of my mouth, “A holdup. What should we do? If we don’t act fast, the old man’ll get it for sure.”

“Hey you two in the back! Shut up! I said no talkin’!” The old guy’s face was very pale, and he’d begun to make a few incomprehendable gagging noises. The knife seemed to be pressed right up against his throat, but it wasn’t cutting anything yet.

Untrust stared blankly for a moment before leaning in and whispering “Just hold on, I’m thinking.”

The hooligan seemed to be digging around in his jacket pocket for something. Still holding the oldie tightly.

Suddenly Untrust cracked a small smile.

“You two! I already told you! Do you want to see blood spilt today?” He threateningly shook the man by his collar. The old guy had closed his eyes and pressed his lips together. God, I hope he isn’t dead. I turned back to Untrust. He looked at me, grinning wildly.

“An idea? What?!”

His grin slowly grew wider. The light all around flickered and pulsed as he leaned in closer. “Intimidation” He hissed menacingly. Aha! I quietly laughed. I wasn’t completely sure where he was going with this, but I was ready for it. Adrenaline was coursing through my body.

Together we slowly stood, edging out from between the seats. With every one of his steps, the light outside quivered and throbbed. I let Untrust take the lead, sliding up quietly behind him.

“Don’t move or the old man gets it!” The boy shook the man again, but he also looked just a little bit scared. Weak. We could take em’. Untrust kept walking. He slowly sauntered up to the boy and leaned in close. They were facing each other in the little walkway between aisles of seats, so I quickly stepped up where I could see both of their faces. This was about to get interesting.